Overhead loom cleaner



PY 9, i958 J. A. DUNCAN 3,376,596

OVERHEAD LOOM CLEANER l Filed April l2, 1965 l 5 Sheets-Sheet l M lli- Y y INVENTOR.

JAMES A. DUNCAN FISE ATTORNEY Apri 9, i968 J. A. DUNCAN OVERHEAD LOOM CLEANER Filed April 12, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 JAMES A. DUNCAN INVEINTOR.

ATTORNEY FlGfZ April 9, 1958 J. A. DUNCAN 3,376,596

OVERHEAD LOOM CLEANER Filed April l2, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 46 L lMlT SWITCHE INVENTOR. JAMES A. DUNCAN F G. 5

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 9, 1968 3,376,596 OVERHEAD LOOM CLEANER James A. Duncan, Providence, RJ., assignor to Grinnell Corporation, Providence, RJ., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 447,307 14 Claims. (Cl. 15--312) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE also changed so that the discharge on the other side of the loom harnesses is considerably less than that on the one side.

This invention relates to the cleaning of textile machinery and more particularly to an improved overhead lint removing apparatus for cleaning textile looms.

It has been suggested iu the past that a plurality of rows of textile looms may be simultaneously cleaned with a plurality of overhead blowers by fastening the blowers, one over each row, to an overhead beam or bridge and moving the beam along the rows of looms. In U.S. Patent No. 3,153,803 issued to Agnew H. Bahnson, Jr., on Oct. 27, 1964, this form of cleaning is discussed.

It is pointed out in the Bahnson patent that if all the air blowers associated respectively with. the several rows of looms remain in operation continuously a great deal of air turbulence is created in the room. This tends to blow the lint which has been blown off the looms and has settled on the floor from the floor back onto previously cleaned adjacent loom structures. An expedient for overcoming this problem, by utilizing only one air blower unit and succesively stopping it over each row of looms and cleaning each row one at a time, is also discussed. There is pointed out a disadvantage of this approach in that the time cycle which is required to cover all the rows of looms in this manner is quite extensive. The Bahnson patent then describes and claims another solution to the problems of turbulence and extended time cycle by operating blowers over every other row of looms in the room at any given pass of the supporting beam on which the blower units are mounted. While this expedient reduces the air turbulence at the oor level to some extent, it does not completely solve the problem of lint rebound from the floor since the lint blown from the rows of looms being cleaned can nd its way to the adjacent rows of looms not being cleaned, and settle on them. This occurs because the lint blown from the looms being cleaned tends to rebound from the oor with the rebounding airstreams and migrate toward the relatively quiet areas of the adjacent rows of looms not being blow upon, and settle on these adjacent looms.

The present invention takes care of these problems for it has been found that by utilizing a blower unit which blows simultaneously on both side of the loom arch with a strong blast of air on one side of the arch and a weak blast of air ony the other side that a plurality of these blowers mounted one over each of a plurality of looms, may operate simultaneously while the beam passes over the rows of looms. A superior cleaning action is thereby obtained because the gentle blasts of air act to dampen any rebound of lint from the Ifloor and thus prevent the deposition of lint on any given loom from any adjacent loom being cleaned at any given instant.

Further, it has been found that if the blower casings of any single blower unit are oriented in transposed positions from one another, then while the fan motor iS operating, one blower unit will operate in its proper optimum direction with relation to its casing while the other blower fan unit will in effect operate in reverse or retarding direction in its blower casing. The reverse operating blower will send forth a suitable fraction of the air being sent forth by the optimum operating blower giving an acceptable control which might otherwise require the necesity of mechanical control devices such as dampers. As a result of the lessened air intake in the reverse operating blower unit the total horse power requirements of the fan motor will be considerably reduced with a comparable saving in electric power utilization.

It has been further found that Iif the operation of the blowers is changed after each traverse of a weave shed so that the side of the blower originally sending forth the strong blast of air becomes the side sending forth the weak blast and the side which was originally sending forth a weak blast becomes the side sending out a strong blast, effective superior cleaning will be achieved on all portions of each loom.

It is to be understood that the results described above can in some cases adequately be obtained by utilizing mechanical alternately operating dampers on the blower units to restrict the air intake of the desired blower units; but the preferred embodiment utilizes reversible blower impellors within transposedly oriented blower casings on each blower unit.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings which describe and show for illustrative purposes only, a preferred embodiment-of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan View of a portion of two bays in a weave shed.

FIG. 2 is a -front elevation view of two adjacent cleaners fastened to an overhead moving beam and operating over two adjacent rows of looms in a weave shed, as viewed from line 2 2 of FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of one of the cleaners of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective View of the cleaner of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a schematic wiring diaphragm showing a circuit suitable for use with the apparatus of FIGS. 1-4.

Referring now with greater particularity to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates portions of two adjacent bays, BAY 1 and BAY 2, of a weave shed as viewed from above. The looms are normally oriented in each bay in four parallel rows marked respectively as A, B, C, D, and W, X, Y, Z.

Afbove each of BAY 1 and BAY 2 is a movable beam or bridge 10 and 110 respectively. Fastened to bridge 10 are cleaner units 12A, 13B, 14C and 15D oriented respectively over loom rows A, B, C, and D. A motor 11 is utilized to drive the bridge 10 back and forth on the tracks 11R.

'Fastened to bridge 1110 are cleaner units 112W, 113X, 114Y and 11SZ oriented respectively over loom rows W, X, Y and Z. This bridge is mounted on tracks 111R and is driven back and forth thereon by motor 111.

Since the equipment and its operation in each of the bays is the same, the following description will be limited 70 to the equipment of BAY 1.

vIn FIG. 2 are two looms LA and LB from rows A and B respectively as viewed from line 2-2, with cleaners 3 12A and 13B shown overhead. At the particular instant of this description, the direction of travel of the bridge is assumed as indicated by the arrow Q in FIG. 1, which direction in FIG. 2 would be toward the viewer.

Each of the cleaners includes a motor and two centrifugal blowers which are more clearly depicted in FIG. 2. In cleaner 12A the motor, designated by the numeral 12, is of the double ended type with a drive sha-ft 16 extending from each endof the motor. At each end of the shaft 16 are impellor fans 18 and 20. These impellor fans are contained respectively within scroll casings 22 and 24 which are joined to the exterior of the motor 12. Casing 22 has a downwardly extending outlet 26 initially of a substantially rectangular cross-section. This outlet is joined at its lower end to a transition portion 28 which terminates at its lower end in a substantially circular cross-sectional configuration.

yCasing 24, like 22, has a downwardly extending outlet 30 and a transition portion 32 similar in dimensions respectively to outlet 26 and transition portion 28. It should be noted however that the outlets 26 and 30 are oppositely or transposedly oriented with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 16 so that as the shaft revolves the two impellors together `the eiect is that one blower operates in forward direction with relation to its scroll outlet and the other blower opera-tes in a reverse direction with relation to its scroll outlet.

Joined to the bottom of each of the transition members 28 and 32 are rotatable nozzles 34 and 36 respectively. The manner of joining such nozzles to the transition members and rotating the nozzles is clearly described in U.S. Patent No. 2,981,644, issued Apr. 25, 1961, to Mitchel S. Fain.

The cleaner 12A is joined to the bridge 10 in any suitable manner. The use of an I-beam section 40 as a support joined to the bridge 10 and cleaner 12 by bolts 41 and 42 respectively and clamp late 43 is one acceptable approach for joining the clearer and the bridge so as to permit longitudinal adjustment along the bridge.

The adjacent cleaner 13B is constructed similarly t-o cleaner 12 and is similarly oriented. The double ended motor 13 has a drive shaft 52 extending from each end t-o which impellor members 54 and 56 are fastened. These impeller members are contained respectively within scroll casings 58 and 60. Casing 58, like 24 has an extending outlet designated `as 62, which is initially of a substantially rectangular cross-section. This outlet is joined at its lower end to a transition portion 63 which terminates at its lower end in a substantially circular cross-sectional configuration.

Casing 60 is reversely oriented with respect to casing 58 and similarly oriented to casing 22. Like casing 22, casing 60 has an extending outlet designated as 64, which is initially of substantially rectangular cross-section. This outlet is joined at its lower end to a transition portion 65 which terminates at its lower end in a substantially circular cross-sectional configuration.

Joined to the bottom of each of the transition members 63 and 6'5 are rotatable nozzles 66 and 67 respectively. These nozzles and their mode of operation are similar to the nozzles 34 and 36.

The cleaner 13B is joined to the bridge 10 in the same manner as cleaner 12A. The fastening is accomplished, as shown in the drawing, by means of an I-beam section 70 to which the bridge 10 and cleaner 13B are joined respectively by bolts 72 and 74 and a clamp plate which is not readily seen but is equivalent to plate 43.

Cleaner 12A is oriented over row A of the` looms so that the nozzles 34 and 36 straddle the loom arch 80 of each loom such as LA in the row as shown in FIG. 2. Likewise, cleaner y13B is so placed that the nozzles 66 and 67 straddle the loom arch 90 of each loom such as LB in the row B as shown in FIG. 2.

The cleaners 14C and 15D, also fastened to bridge 10, are similar to cleaners 12 and 13 in their constructQlt and orientation over the rows of looms C and D. In BAY 2,

the cleaners 112W, 113X, 114Y and 115Z mounted on` bridge over rows of looms W, X, Y and Z are similar in construction and orientation to cleaners 12A-15D in". clusive. As a result, while this description has been partic-.

ularly limited to cleaners 12A `and 13B, it isalso applic.-

able to cleaners 1`4C and 15D and 112W-115Z inclusive.`

The bridge motor 11 and the motors 12, 13, 14 and 15 of cleaners 12A, 13B, 14C and 15D are powered by a common three phase circuit as shown in FIG. 5. A feeler arm 45 extending from the motor 11 is tripped at either end of a run by an outstanding stop dog (such as 48) located near the track 11R. If another beam is used on the same tracks to lift loads such as warp beams, a stop dog located on the other beam (not shown) may also be used.

Tripping the feeler arm 45 actuates an appropriate one of the limit switches 46 and 47..In the illustrated circuit these are spring loaded, normally closed switches which, y

drive motor 1v1 and the motors 12,13, 14, 15 and thus i change the direction of the drive motor and the fan motors from forward to reverse or from reverse to forward.

Included in the circuit are manual stop, forward and reverse switches 71, 72 and 73 respectively to give the necessary manual control. In some installations it may be considered desirable to include a timer so that a controlled timed cycle may be achieved. The inclusion of such apparatus is within the scope of the skilled artisan and need not be described here.

In operation, the bridge 10 is periodically passed over the looms of BAY 1. As the bridge moves in one direction along the rows of looms, streams of air are discharged from the blower nozzles. With the bridge 10 moving in the direction indicated by arrow Q as viewed in FIGS. l and 4, the impeller wheel 18, in the blower casing 22, of cleaner 12A, is rotating toward outlet 26 in a clockwise direction as viewed from the inlet 22a, and as shown by arrow T. This is referred to here as operating the, blower 22 in its optimum direction since the air from` much lower volume of air. The other cleaners 13B, `14C.

and 15D, on the bridge 10 operate in the same manner.

Actual tests have indicated that where a particular impellor in a cleaner constructed in` accordance with this description and the drawingsends forth an airstream from its blower casing of approximately 1255 cubic `feet per minute while operating in its optimum direction, the same impellor operating in its retarding direction will send forth an airstream of approximately 411 cubic feet per minute. A similar relationshp will be found in the other cleaners. Thus it can be said that the blowers operating in their optimum direction send forth approximately three times the volume of air sent forth by the fans operating in a reverse or retarding direction. Thus, with the beam 10V of BAY 1 moving in the direction Q, and assuming the nozzles corresponding to 36 and 66. These differences in` volume of the airstreams are graphically illustrated, though not to scale, in FIG. 2 by the relative number and density of lines used to represent the airstreams.

After the beam has traversed the entire length of the rows A, B, C, D of looms, the feeler arm 45 is actuated by an outstanding dog such as 48, to reverse the electric current in the motors of the cleaners 12-15 and drive motor 111. Thus, on the return trip, opposite to the direction indicated by arrow Q, the blowers on motors 12-15 corresponding to casings 24 and 58 will operate in their optimum direction (toward the outlets corresponding to 30) while the blowers corresponding to 22 and 60 will operate in their reverse direction.

This will provide a maximum volume of air from the nozzles corresponding to 36 and 66 and a corresponding reduction of the volume of air issuing from the nozzles corresponding to nozzles 34 and 67.

It is quite clear, therefore, that as the beam traverses the length of BAY 1 each of the looms in the BAY will have impinged on it, at least two airstreams, one, a relatively large volume stream and the other a relatively small volume stream, e.g. approximately 1/3 the volume of the large stream. With the beam traversing in one direction all of the blowers on the same one side of the looms as viewed from one end of the BAY will send forth the strong blast and all of the blowers on the same other side of the looms as viewed from the same end of the BAY will send forth lthe weak blast of air. The relationship of the streams will be reversed when the beam traverses in the opposite direction. Thus, all of the looms will be cleaned in a single round trip pass of the beam with a dampening action which will prevent excessive rebound of the lint from the floor to the adjacent looms.

It is to be understood that the above description and accompanying drawings are to be deemed primarily as -illustrative of the preferred mode presently contemplated of carrying out the principles of the invention, and that the device described and illustrated may be modified or altered in its form, proportions, details of construction, and arrangement of parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for removing lint from at least one row of looms having loom arches in alignment comprising blower means movably mounted for longitudinal movement along said row over said arches of said looms, means for simultaneously delivering at least one loom cleaning stream of air from said blower means to said looms on each side of said loom arches, the volume of air of said at least one stream of air on one side of said loom arches being considerably greater than the volume of air of said at least one stream of air on the other side of said loom arches, said blower means comprising a double ended reversible rotatable motor having a substantially horizontal shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially horizontally from each end of said motor and transversely of said aligned loom arches, an air impellor joined to each of said shaft ends, and a blower casing mounte-d about each of said impellors and each including an intake opening in its side, said delivering means comprising at least one air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being transposedly oritented with respect to each other with the at least one downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, and the at least one downwardly extending air discharge outlet of the other of said casings being on the opposite side of said axis of said shaft extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, whereby as said blower means moves over said row of looms one impellor will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and the other impellor in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing.

2. Apparatus for removing lint from at least one row of looms having loom arches in alignment comprising blower means movably mounted for longitudinal movement along said row over said arches of said looms, means for simultaneously delivering at least one loom cleaning stream of air from said blower means to said looms on each side of said loom arches, the volume of air of said at least one stream of air on one side of said loom arches `being considerably greater than the volume of air of said at least one stream of air on the other side of said loom arches, said blower means comprising a double ended reversible rotatable motor having a substantially horizontal shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially horizontally from each end of said motor and transversely of said aligned loom arches, an air impellor joined to each of said shaft ends, and a lblower casing mounted about each of said impellors and each including an intake opening in its side, said delivering means comprising an.

air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being transposedly oriented with respect to each other with the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of they other of said casings being on the opposite side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, whereby as said blower means moves over said row of looms one impellor will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and the other impellor in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casings thereby producing said considerably greater airstream on one side of said loom arches approximately three times as great in volume as said at least one airstream on said other side lof said loom'arches.

3. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of parallel rows of looirns wherein each loom has a longitudinally extending loom arch comprising, a bridge extending transversely of said rows of loom and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for forward and back movement along said track system, means fastened to said bridge for delivering at least one stream of air to each of the looms in each of said rows on one side of the loom arches and means for delivering at least another stream of air to each of the looms in each of said rows on the other side of the loom arches considerably smaller in volume than said at least one stream of air during the forward movement of said bridge, means for reversing said bridge to a back movement along said track system, means for transposing the relative volumes of said one stream of air to each of the looms and said another stream of air to each of the looms whereby during said back movement cf said bridge the volume of said at least one air stream to each of the looms is considerably smaller in volume than said at least another stream.

4. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a longitudinally extending loom arch comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which sa'd bridge is mounted for forward and back movement along said track system, means fastened to said bridge for delivering at least two streams of air to each of said rows of looms with at least one of said streams on each side of the loom arches of each row, the magnitude of discharge of air on one side of the arches of each row of looms being considerably greater than the magnitude of discharge of air on the other side of said arches during the forward movement of said bridge, means for reversing said bridge to a back movement along said track system, means for transposing the relative magnitudes of discharge of air to each side of said loom arches whereby during said back-movement of said lbridge the magnitudev f discharge of air on the other side of the arches of each row of looms is considerably greater than the magnitude of discharge of air on the one side of said arches.

5. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a longitudinally extending loom arch comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms and -above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for forward and back movement along said track' system, means for effecting movement of said bridge along said track system, blower means fastened to said bridge and means for simultaneously delivering loom cleaning streams of air from said blower means to both sides of the loom arches of said rows of looms with a -substantially greater magnitude on the same one sides of all of the loom larches as viewed in the direction of forward travel of said bridge than on the same other sides during said forward movement of said bridge along said track system means for reversing said bridge to a back movement along said track system and means for transposing the relative magnitudes of discharge of air on both sides of the loom arches of said rows of looms whereby during said back movement of said bridge the magnitude of said loom cleaning streams of air on the same other sides of all the loom arches as viewed in the direction of forward travel of said bridge is substantially greater than the magnitude of said loom cleaning streams of air on the same one side of all the loom arches.

6. Apparat-us for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a longitudinally extending loom arch comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for movement along said track system, means for effecting a forward and back movement of said bridge along said track system, blower means fastened to said bridge, means for delivering streams of air from said air blower means to the looms of each row on both sides of the loom arches with the volume of the streams of air on the same one side of the arches as viewed from one end of said rows of looms being considerably greater than the volume of the streams of air on the same other side of said arches when said bridge moves in said forward direction along said track system, and with the volume of the streams of air on the same other side of the arches being considerably greater than the volume of the streams of air on the same one side of said arches when said bridge moves in said back direction along said track system.

7. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a longitudinally extending loom arch comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for movement along said track system, means for effecting a forward and back movement of said bridge along said track system, blower means fastened to said bridge, means for delivering two streams of air from` said blower means to the looms of each row as a stream on each side of the loom arches of each row with the volume of each of the streams of air on the same one side of the arches as viewed from one end of said rows of looms being considerably greater than the volume of each of the streams of air on the same other side of said arches when said bridge moves in said forward -direction along said track system, and with t-he volume of each of the streams of air on the same other side of the arches being considerably greater than cai 8 3 the volume of each of the streams of air on the same one side of said arches when said bridge moves in said back direction along said track system.

8. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of a parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a longitudinally extending loom arch comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is` mounted for movement along said track system, means for effecting a forward and back movement of said bridge along said track system, blower means fastened to said bridge, means for delivering two streams of air from said blower means to the looms of each row` as a stream on each side of the loom arches of each row with the volume of each the streams of air on the same one side of the arches as viewed from one end of said rows of looms being approximately three times as great asthe volume of each of the streams of `air on the same other side of said arches when said bridge moves in said forward direction along said track system,

and with the volume of each of the streams of air on the y same other side of the arches being approximately three times as great as the volume of each of the streams of air on the same one side of said arches when said bridge moves in said back direction along said track system.

9. Apparatus for removing lint from the` looms of a plurality of parallel rows of `looms wherein each loom has a loom arch extending longitudinally of its said row comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms, and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for movement along said track system, means for moving said bridge forward and back along said track system, a plurality of blowers fastened to said bridge, each row of looms having one blower located thereover, each of said blowers including a double ended reversible rotatable motor `having a shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially hori zontally from each end of said motor and transversely of the loom arches, an air impellor joined to each of said shaft ends, a blower casing mounted about each of said impellors and each including an intake opening in its side and an air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being transposedly oriented with respect to eachother with the downwardly extending air discharge outletof one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft and extending down-` wardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of the other of said casings being on theopposite side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, means for actuating said motor for rotation in one direction as said bridge moves forward and for rotation in its opposite direction as said bridge moves back, whereby as each of said blowers moves in one direction over its respective row `of looms, one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and the other impellor wheel in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing, and as each of said blowers moves in the opposite direction over its respective row of looms, said one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening` in its casing and said other impellor wheel in said other casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing.

10. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms `of a plurality of parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a loom arch extending longitudinally of its said row comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms, and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said -rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for movement along said track system, means for moving said bridge forward and back along said track system, a plurality of blowers fastened to said bridge, each row of looms having one blower located thereover, each of said blowers including a double ended reversible rotatable motor having a shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially horizontally from each end of said motor and transversely of the loom arches, an air impellor joined to each of said shaft ends, a blower casing mounted about each of said impellors and each including an intake opening in its outer side and an air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being transposedly oriented with respect to each other with the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of the other of said casings being on the opposite side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, means for actuating said motor for rotation in one direction as said bridge moves forward and for rotation in its opposite direct-ion as said bridge moves back, whereby as each of said blowers moves in one direction over its respective row of looms, one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and will send forth an airstream from its discharge outlet and the other impellor wheel in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and will send forth an airstream of substantially different magnitude from its discharge outlet, and as each of said blowers moves in the opposite direction over its respective row of looms, said one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and said other impellor wheel in said other casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing, thereby reversing the magnitudes of the airstreams issuing from the discharge outlets.

11. Apparatus for removing lint from the looms of a plurality of parallel rows of looms wherein each loom has a loom arch extending longitudinally of its said row comprising a bridge extending transversely of said rows of looms, and above said loom arches, an overhead track system extending longitudinally of said rows of looms on which said bridge is mounted for movement along said track system, means for moving said bridge forward and back along said track system, a plurality of blowers fastened to said bridge, each row of looms having one blower located thereover, each of said blowers including a double ended reversible rotatable motor having a shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially horizontally from each end of said motor and transversely of the loom arches, an air impellor joined to each of said shaft ends, a blower casing mounted about each of said impellors and each including an intake opening in its outer side and an air discharge outlet extending downv Wardly from each of said casings, said casings being transposedly oriented with respect to each other with the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of the other of said casings being on the opposite side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, means for actuating said motor for rotation in one direction as said bridge moves forward and for rotation in its opposite direction as said bridge moves back, -whereby as each of said blowers moves in one direction over its respective row of looms, one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and will send forth an airstream from its discharge outlet and the other impellor wheel in the other casing will Cit rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and Will send forth an airstream from its discharge outlet differing in magnitude from the airstream of said one casing by approximately a factor of three, and as each of said blowers moves in the opposite direction over its respective row of looms, said one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and said other impellor wheel in said other casing lwill rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing, thereby reversing the magnitudes of the airstreams issuing from the discharge outlet.

12. Apparatus for removing lint from at least one row of looms having arches in alignment comprising blower means movably mounted for longitudinal movement along said row over the arc-hes of said looms, said blower means comprising a double ended reversible rotatable motor having a shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending su-bstantially horizontally from each end of said motor and transversely of the row of looms, an air impellor wheel joined to each of said shaft ends, a blower casing mounted about each of said -impellors and each including an intake opening in its side and an air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being reversely oriented with respect to each other with the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of sa-id casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of the other of said casings being -on the other side of said axis of said sha-ft and extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, means for moving said blower means along said row of looms over said loom arches while said motor means rotates in one direction, vmeans for stopping and reversing the movement of said blower means along said row of looms, means for reversing the rotation of said motor after said blower mea-ns has stopped, whereby as said blower means moves in one direction over the row of looms, one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its cas-ing and the other impellor wheel in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing, and after said blower means has reversed to move in an opposite direction over the row of looms said one impellor wheel in said one casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the lintake opening in its casing and said other impellor wheel in said othercasing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing.

i3. Apparatus for removing lint from at least one row of looms having loom arches in alignment comprising lower means movably mounted for longitudinal movement along said row over the arches of said looms, said blower means comprising a double ended reversible rotatable motor having a shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially horizontally from each end of said motor andtransversely `of the .row of looms, an air impellor wheel joined to each of said shaft ends, a blower casing mounted about each of said impellors and each including an intake opening in its side and an air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being reversely `oriented with respect to each other with the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaft Iand extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of the `other of said casings being on the other side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on the other side of said loom arches, means for moving said blower means along said row of lootns over said loom arches while said motor means rotates in one direction, means for reversing the movement of said blower means along said row of looms and for reversing the rotation of said motor, whereby as said blow er means moves in one direction over the row of looms, one impellor wheel in one casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and will send yforth an airstrearn from its discharge outlet and the other impell'or wheel in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from lthe intake opening in its casing and will send forth an airstream from its discharge outlet of substantially d-ifferent rnagnlitude, and after said blower means has reversed to move in an opposite direction over` the row of looms said 'one impellor wheel in said one casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and said other impellor wheel in said other casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing, thereby reversing the magnitudes of the airstrearns issuing from the discharge outlets.

14. Apparatus for removing lint yfrom atleast one row of looms having loom arches in alignment comprising blower means movably mounted for longitudinal rnovement along said row over the arches of said looms, said blower means compris-ing a double ended reversible rotatable motor 'having a shaft therethrough and a shaft end extending substantially horizontally fro-m each end of said motor and transversely of the row of looms, an air irnpellor wheel joined to each of said shaft ends, a blower casing mounted about each of said impcllors and each including an intake opening in its outer side and an air discharge outlet extending downwardly from each of said casings, said casings being reversely oriented with respect Vto each other with the downwardly extending air discharge outlet of one of said casings being on one side of said axis of said shaift and extending downwardly on one side of said loom arches, the downwardly ex- 12 tending air discharge outlet of the other of said casings beingon the other side of said axis of said shaft and extending downwardly on the other sideV of said loom arches, means for moving said blower meansv along said row of looms over said arches while saidrmotor means rotates in one direction, means for reversing the movement of said blower means along said row of looms and for reversing the rotation of said motor, whereby as said blower means moves in one direction over the row of looms, one impellor wheel in one 'casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and will send forth an airstream from its discharge outlet and the other impellor wheel in the other casing will rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing and will send forth an airstream from its discharge outlet differing in magnitude from the ail'stream of said one casing by approximately a factor of three, and after said blower means hasreversed to move in an opposite direction over the row of looms said one impellor wheel in said one casing will rotate in a counterclockwise directionl as viewed from the intakeopening in its casing and said other impellor wheel in said other casing will rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed from the intake opening in its casing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,524,797 10/1950 Hottzclaw 15-312 3,153,803 10/1964 Bahnson 1S- 312 FOREIGN PATENTS 421,711 12/1934 Greatritain. 824,022 11/1959 Great Britain.

ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner. 

